Wouldn’t it be nice to have a whole greenhouse devoted to growing violets for the house during the cold weather months?
Or orchids and palms?
Frances Benjamin Johnston took the above photographs (except one) in 1889 and 1890.
Or azaleas?
A large conservatory complex occupied the west side of the White House from 1857. . .
until 1902, when the West Wing was built.
All photos above via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Four more winter gardens are here.
The perfect loveliness that God has made,—
Wild violets shy and Heaven-mounting dreams.— Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson, from “Sonnet“
enclos*ure 